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News from CQC

CQC’s new report, Opening the door to change, examines the issues that contribute to the occurrence of never events and wider patient safety incidents in NHS trusts in England. The report is calling a change in safety culture across the NHS to reduce avoidable harm.

The review found that too many people are being injured or suffering unnecessary harm because NHS staff are not supported by sufficient training, and because the complexity of the current patient safety system makes it difficult for staff to ensure safety is an integral part of everything we do.

Click here to read the full report and see a summary of the key findings and recommendations

CQC to review the use of restrictive interventions

CQC has been commissioned by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care to review the use of restraint, prolonged seclusion and segregation in settings that provide care for people with mental health problems, a learning disability and/or autism.

Click here to find out more and read the terms of reference for the review.

CQC accessing records and GDPR

CQC has powers under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 to access and use information where they consider this is necessary for them to carry out their functions as a regulator. Where possible inspectors should explain why they are asking to look at certain records. They will consider any concerns and objections raised to them, and whether they can achieve CQC’s purpose by accessing the records of someone else. However, CQC relies on its legal powers to access information rather than consent, therefore may use its powers to access records even in cases where objections have been raised.

More detail on how CQC ensure compliance with data protection law (including GDPR) and their privacy statement is available on their website.

Amendment of guidance on requirement to display CQC ratings

The public has a right to know how care services are performing. To help them do this, Regulation 20A became a legal requirement in April 2015. This means:

  • all registered providers that have received a CQC rating have to display it
  • ratings must be displayed at each location used for providing or managing regulated services and on their website (if they have one).

CQC have recently made a minor amendment to their guidance. CQC has developed posters and digital products to help providers do this easily.  


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